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Basel’s disaster

How the Schweizerhalle chemical accident hit a city and its surroundings hard.

On the night of November 1, 1986 a fire broke out at the Sandoz company chemical warehouse at the Schweizerhalle industrial area outside the city. The run-off from water used in fire fighting operations mixed with chemicals to become a contaminated cocktail that found its way into the River Rhine, with devastating effects.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR